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Japan will need to replace as many as 14 of its nuclear reactors by the 2050s in order to meet its future energy demands, a recently released draft policy proposal states.
Officials with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management discussed spent nuclear fuel recycling and conditioning with counterparts from Japan during the 13th U.S.-Japan Technical Meeting of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group, held recently in Santa Fe, N.M.
The applications of nuclear energy extend beyond providing power to the electrical grid. Advanced nuclear technologies may soon have new applications in oil and gas facilities, in hospitals and clinics, on the open seas, and on the moon.
A June 1 executive session, “How Nuclear Technologies will Shape the Future Energy Economy,” at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference allowed experts have an open discussion on the future of nuclear advancements in multiple sectors.
On June 1 at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., a team from Idaho National Laboratory presented a session titled “Lessons Learned from MARVEL Reactor Fabrication.” The presentation highlighted challenges that arose as they moved from design to manufacturing and assembly, with a focus on reactor part fabrication, Stirling engine implementation, and reactivity control system development.
Scientists at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered that plutonium hexaboride (PuB6) displays a type of unusual quantum property called a topological Kondo insulating state. Materials with this property are neither typical electricity conductors nor regular insulators. Rather, they have exterior surfaces that strongly conduct electricity and interiors that block electricity.
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0, a forerunner to the R1, which is the company’s flagship design. The R1 is a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark 0 is distinct from the R1 in that it is configured for zero-power criticality testing and as such is equipped with neither power conversion nor heat removal systems.
For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
Two companies specializing in ultrasonic nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring are to advance to the final phase of a selection process to demonstrate acoustic emission technologies for the automated monitoring of spent nuclear fuel dry storage canisters.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved Constellation’s waiver request to transfer PJM capacity interconnection rights from one of its gas- and oil-powered plants to its Crane nuclear power plant (formerly Three Mile Island-1).
While Constellation executives previously said that an unsuccessful waiver request wouldn’t have prevented the Middletown, Pa., plant from restarting as soon as 2027, it could have impacted whether Crane could fully deliver power to the grid once it is on line. The decision, issued by FERC on June 1, likely helps facilitate Constellation’s path forward for the plant’s restart.
The American Nuclear Society journal Fusion Science and Technology (FS&T) has named a new technical editor: Kathryn McCarthy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The announcement came during the opening plenary at this week’s ANS Annual Conference in Denver, Colo. McCarthy’s term begins on July 1.
The New York Power Authority is seeking nuclear reactor developers that can commence construction on large-scale reactors and/or small modular reactors before 2033 that can ultimately add at least 1 GW of new capacity to New York’s electrical grid.
Here is a recap of recent industry happenings:
Fluor gets X-energy contract for Dow’s Seadrift project
Fluor Corporation has signed a contract to support X-energy’s planned small modular reactor project at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations facility in southern Texas. Fluor’s role will initially involve delivery of front-end loading stage 2 services, including project definition, strategic planning, feasibility assessment, cost control, and risk mitigation. X-energy plans to deploy four 80-MW SMRs to replace old infrastructure and supply electricity and industrial steam for the Seadrift facility, which produces materials for such applications as food packaging, footwear, wire and cable insulation, solar cell components, and medical and pharmaceutical packaging. X-energy submitted a construction permit application for the project, which is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2025.
Nuclear power currently appears to have the wind at its back, with growing demand for clean, reliable energy from industry (think data centers) and strong political support for new projects. But getting there still will require a lot of pieces to yet fall into place. It is, as American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy said, a “chicken and egg” problem: Which comes first, the fuel to supply new reactors or the reactors that will create a demand for new fuel?
On Tuesday, during Mark Peters’s last days as the American Nuclear Society’s vice president/president-elect before assuming the presidency on June 4, he sat down with ANS CEO Craig Piercy for a Fireside Chat at the Annual Conference.
The MITRE CEO weighed in on his career path, what excites and worries him about the resurgence of nuclear energy, and juggling work-life balance with his new duties as ANS’s 72nd president.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s an important year,” he told Piercy.
The American Nuclear Society Student Section at the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (ANS-UPRM) recently testified in the Puerto Rican House of Representatives on the opportunities nuclear power could provide for the island. Specifically, section president Francisco Paravisini Domenech advocated for the passage of Proyecto de la Cámara 1092, which would direct the Puerto Rican government to evaluate the deployment of small modular reactors, among other low-carbon technologies. (A Proyecto de la Cámara, or Chamber Project, is akin to a House bill.)
At the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference on June 1, an executive session covered the increasingly prominent subject of nuclear applications in the civilian maritime industry.
Panelists who presented during “Advancing Nuclear Powered Maritime Shipping” highlighted the fact that the commercial shipping industry, the nuclear industry, and government agencies are looking at nuclear power as a solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, 3 percent of which are attributed to commercial shipping.
The International Atomic Energy Agency intends to launch a new initiative at the IAEA ministerial in Washington, D.C. on August 26–27. The objective of the initiative, called Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS), is to provide support for “the maritime industry’s exploration of small modular reactors (SMRs) to power civilian ships and to provide offshore energy.” The IAEA hopes that this initiative will help advance the maritime deployment of such reactors.
New developments in Sweden’s nuclear energy industry continue to make headlines. Last week, Swedish engineering services firm Studsvik submitted an application to build between 600 MWe and 1,400 MWe of new nuclear power capacity “at and around” its Nyköping Municipality headquarters. Separately, the Swedish government is looking to acquire a majority ownership stake in Videberg Kraft AB.
Ten of the 27 member countries of the European Union recently sent a letter to the European Commission calling for nuclear power to be labeled as sustainable in a new rulemaking that pertains to powering data centers and artificial intelligence.
While the EC’s decision could have significant impact on the future deployment of nuclear across the continent, this call to action also represents a broader positive reconsideration of nuclear power in Europe in recent years.
Yesterday, the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference got off to an exciting start with an opening plenary that in its first half featured extensive commentary from ANS CEO Craig Piercy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Ho Nieh, the Department of Energy’s Michael Goff, and several others key leaders in the U.S. nuclear industry.